Water Slides
by Libbylou1201
Summary: [Cursed Child compliant, minor to moderate spoilers for TCC] Submission for The Ultimate Hermione Competition II. When Hermione is one of only a few with an understanding of the language she provides a little help to some misunderstood magical citizens.


_Hermione can speak any one magical language._

On a quiet afternoon, about a week after she had sent her children off to Hogwarts until Christmas, Hermione sat alone in her office. It was the first quiet moment the Minister of Magic had had in what felt like months and she was going to embrace it. She sat there, eye closed, enjoying the warm breeze entering the window. That was until the sudden commotion. Her eyes shot open and she immediately withdrew her wand, looking for the intruder. It was a tiny owl, completely unfamiliar looking to Hermione. She rose from her seat, picking up the bird who had crashed to the floor, untying the note from his leg. She placed him down on her desk, offering a few treats to him. Then she opened the letter.

"Dear Minister,

Please come quickly. There is a crisis in our lake. We need your help to communicate.

Thank you,

The Merpeople of the Black Lake"

Quickly Hermione rose from her seat, collecting her wand and shouting to her secretary, "I'm leaving to go provide some assistance. I hope to be back shortly, but reschedule meetings if I miss them."

She grabbed some flow powder and sent herself into Hogsmede, walking briskly toward Hogwarts. The merpeople had called upon her assistance before, but it was a rare occurrence and usually only involved some sort of misunderstanding.

Arriving at the lake, Hermione Granger-Weasley's eyes were wide. _Who did this?_ She stared at the giant series of waterslide around the lake.

Then she saw. Her nephew, James, and his best friend Philip, standing among the teachers. Approaching the small crowd, she made eye contact with James. His eyes went wide, afraid of the punishment to come. However Hermione only smiled at the boy; she'd let his parents deal with _this._

"Hello Professor," Hermione acknowledged Minerva. "I was summoned by the merpeople to offer some aid."

"Yes, yes. Thank you for coming. It seems your nephew-actually, I'll let him explain," McGonagall responded, eying James.

"Well, um, you see Aunt Hermione, it was just so hot yesterday! And we figured it would be hot today too, so why not invest in a way to cool down for the future. So, uh, we set this up last night. And no ones been hurt or anything-actually, everyone has loved it. Except the uh, merpeople." He finished his explanation mumbling.

Hermione walked away, over to the lake. "You lot might want to over your ears," she warned, knowing the language of the merpeople was rather loud and painful to one that did not understand it.

The merpeople had sent one representative up to the surface, but Hermione could see the others hanging around a bit lower.

"Oh Minister. Thank you for coming. Those stupid children have built slides into our home! They're shooting off the slide so fast that there diving almost into our homes and then struggling to swim fast enough back to the surface so we have to keep saving them all! Otherwise it would be our fault they died!" the merperson explained.

"Yes, I am terribly sorry about this whole mess. We will remove the slides immediately. Has any damage come to your homes? Is there anything else you need besides the slides gone?" Hermione tried her best to support all members of the wizarding world. She wasn't the founder of SPEW for nothing.

"No, no. We will be good once those children are good. Thank you!"

"Goodbye," Hermione turned back to the crowd of people, all holding there ears, faces scrunched in pain. She smiled; it was always funny to see people in such discomfort, when the simple answer was to learn the language. Once she had taught herself the language, it was no longer painful to her ears, just natural sounds. "All they ask is that the slides are removed and the children stay away," Hermione interpreted to the Headmistress and her fellow colleges that were there, attempting to keep other students away.

"Thank you Minister. We are so sorry to have taken up your time on something as silly as a prank by your nephew," McGonagall smiled, happy to have a solution to the mild chaos that had been happening all morning.

"No problem. I'm happy to assist," Hermione replied before turning to her nephew. "I won't deliver them the news, but I'd assume the teachers will so good luck buddy." She ruffled his hair and winked, before walking off.

It was good to be able to help. That was part of why she continued to teach herself as many languages and cultures as possible. Going out and sorting quarrels was one of the better parts of her job. It was certainly more interesting than the meetings about the economy she had sat in all morning as a few wizards tried to convince the goblins that the money system needed to change.


End file.
